Microsoft may buy Yahoo and AOL if the latter two merge — Microsoft is quietly readying a plan to make a purchase of the combined Yahoo-AOL, should Yahoo pull off its plans to acquire the struggling America Online unit, according to sources close to AOL — via the menage-a-trois with AOL.

Larry Ellison's Brilliant Anti-Cloud Computing Rant — Maybe Larry Ellison can do what the Business Technology Blog can't. — Earlier this week, we wrote that the term “cloud computing” now seems to apply to just about anything even loosely associated with the Internet, making it effectively meaningless.

Oracle's Ellison nails cloud computing — Finally, a technology executive willing to tell the truth about cloud computing. Speaking at Oracle OpenWorld, Larry Ellison said that the computer industry is more fashion-driven than women's fashion and cloud computing is simply the latest fashion.

Where Is Microsoft's Smartphone? Everywhere, Says Redmond — The smartphone wars are set for this holiday season: Apple's (AAPL) iPhone 3G versus new BlackBerry gadgets from Research In Motion (RIMM), and now Google's ‘G1’ Android GPhone. Oh — and dozens of gadgets running Microsoft's Windows Mobile.

Analyst: Fundamentals are deteriorating at Yahoo — An analyst trimmed revenue estimates for Yahoo this morning, noting some of the factors that seems to be bringing the company down with no relief in sight. Collins Stewart analyst Sandeep Aggarwal said in a research note that he believes Yahoo …

FeedBurner May Not Be Hearing Your Pings — Blogging is a fast medium, that's one of its advantages over traditional media. There are bloggers who specialize in reporting fast about breaking news on a wide variety of topics. Most of those bloggers use Google's RSS publishing technology FeedBurner …

UMG Plans Online Music Video Portal — Universal Music Group is in the planning stages of establishing its own online music video portal—similar to NBC's Hulu video streaming site, Billboard.biz has learned. — According to sources with knowledge of UMG's plans, the service would host …

Ballmer on search: 'I don't like not being No. 1' — SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said his company may be the only one with a chance to rival Google in search over the long term, but acknowledged that it will take several more years and a whole lot of money.

Sony Price Dropping 40GB PS3 Model This Weekend — Ho Ho Ho, it looks like Christmas is coming early for fans of the Playstation 3 system. — According to a Blockbusters' memo leaked to us today Sony is permanently dropping the price of the discontinued 40GB model of the Playstation 3 starting Sunday.

IPhone 2.2: Safari Redesign, Possible Cut and Paste — With the iPhone v2.1 software out of the door, Apple is hard at work on v2.2. From this first glimpse it looks like Apple, now that the major bugs have been squashed, is adding some new features. — The screenshot, unearthed by iPhone Atlas, shows a new Safari interface.

Tellme for iPhone due by June — SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Microsoft is indeed working on an iPhone application. — As I predicted, it is the company's Tellme unit that is actively developing a program for Apple's iPhone. Tellme offers voice-activated search for a variety of phones, including the BlackBerry.

Wario Land: Shake It Busts Up YouTube — by Greg Kumparak on September 26, 2008 — Wow. Whoever came up with this new ad for Wario Land: Shake it deserves a raise and a paid vacation to Cancun or something. They've taken a basic concept of the game and managed to make it into creative …

Full Pass of Acid3 — Today we would like to announce that WebKit is the first browser engine to fully pass Acid3. A while back, we posted that we scored 100/100 and matched the reference rendering. Now, thanks to recent speedups in JavaScript, DOM and rendering, we have passed the third condition …

The Future of Videogames, According to Activision CEO — Beverly Hills, Calif. — Robert Kotick has just pulled off one of the biggest mergers ever in the videogames industry. Now he has to show that the company that emerged from the deal, Activision Blizzard Inc., can continue to crank …

Japan's online social scene isn't so social — TOKYO - Like a lot of 20-year-olds, Kae Takahashi has a page on U.S.-based MySpace, and there is no mistaking it for anyone else's. — It's got pictures of the funky Tokyoite modeling the clothes she designs in her spare time, along with her name …

How-To: Web server on a business card (Part 2) — This mini web server is slightly smaller than a business card. There are a lot of tiny one-board servers out there, but this is probably the smallest you can etch and solder at home. Unlike many embedded web servers …

Apple cuts iPhone 3G build plan; Suppliers to take a hit — Apple reportedly plans to build 14 million to 15 million iPhone 3Gs from a previous target of 18 million for 2008, according to a report from Pacific Crest. — Citing “supply chain channel checks” Apple's is cutting its iPhone 3G buildout.

Larry Page blasts white space FUD on Capitol Hill — Google co-founder Larry Page says the time for delays has passed: he wants the Federal Communications Commission to open up fallow “white space” in the TV broadcast spectrum for unlicensed use, and to do it before November's presidential election.